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Michelle Marie Pfeiffer (born April 29,
1958) is a three-time Oscar-nominated and an
internationally known American actress. In a career
spanning more than 25 years, Pfeiffer has appeared in
films such as Scarface, The Fabulous Baker Boys and
Batman Returns.
Early life: Michelle Pfeiffer was born in Santa
Ana, California to Richard Pfeiffer and Donna Taverna
and raised in Midway City, Orange County, California
(about 30 miles southeast of Los Angeles). She is the
second of four siblings: an older brother, Rick
Pfeiffer, and two younger sisters, Dedee Pfeiffer (b.
1964, also an actress) and Lori Pfeiffer (b. 1965).
Her paternal grandfather, William, was
of German ancestry, while her maternal grandfather,
Jacob Bernhard Taverna, was of German-Swiss descent, and
her maternal grandmother, Delma Lillian Hill, was of
Swedish descent.
Pfeiffer attended Fountain Valley High School,
graduating in 1976. She briefly pursued a career as a
court reporter at local Golden West Community College
before dropping out to pursue a career in acting. In
1978, Pfeiffer entered and won the Miss Orange County
beauty pageant, and then entered the statewide
competition for Miss California USA. Although
unsuccessful in winning the title, the young Pfeiffer
acquired an agent, who helped her secure TV commercial
parts and small movie and television roles before making
her mark in Hollywood.
Career: Pfeiffer's first major screen role was in
1982 in the film sequel, Grease 2. But it was not until
1983 when Pfeiffer co-starred with Al Pacino in Brian De
Palma's gangster classic Scarface that she caught the
attention of Hollywood. Over the course of the 1980s and
1990s, Pfeiffer starred in a string of box-office and
critical hits including Ladyhawke, The Witches of
Eastwick, Married to the Mob, Tequila Sunrise, The
Russia House, Frankie and Johnny, Batman Returns, The
Age of Innocence, Dangerous Minds, and One Fine Day.
She won the British Academy Award for
1988's Dangerous Liaisons and the Silver Bear award at
the Berlin International Film Festival in 1993 for Love
Field. Each roles won Pfeiffer Academy Award
nominations, for Best Supporting Actress and Best
Actress respectively.
However, it was Pfeiffer's performance as Susie Diamond
in The Fabulous Baker Boys that continues to be the
highlight of Pfeiffer's career. Her performance gained
honours from the Hollywood Foreign Press, New York Film
Critics, Los Angeles Film Critics, and the National
Society of Film Critics and Board of Review as well as
another Oscar nomination. Critics compared Pfeiffer's
performance, known for its scorching rendition of
"Makin' Whoopee", sung while atop a piano, to
those of Marilyn Monroe, Rita Hayworth, and a young
Katharine Hepburn. Film critic Pauline Kael raved that
Pfeiffer's performance had "the grinning
infectiousness of Carole Lombard and the radiance of the
very young Lauren Bacall."
In 1995, Pfeiffer was given the Hasty Pudding Woman of
the Year award by Harvard University for her
contribution to the performing arts. The award, bestowed
annually by the Hasty Pudding Theatricals society, is
given to female performers deemed to have made a
"lasting and impressive contribution to the world
of entertainment." The award placed Pfeiffer among
the ranks of Katharine Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor, and
Meryl Streep.
Despite working significantly less frequently in recent
years, Pfeiffer has continued to maintain her status as
one of the film world's reigning screen goddesses. In
2000, Pfeiffer starred with Harrison Ford in one of the
biggest box office hits of the year, Robert Zemeckis's
thriller What Lies Beneath. In 2001, she starred
opposite Sean Penn in I Am Sam and in 2002 alongside Renée
Zellweger and Robin Wright Penn in White Oleander, which
earned her a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination as
Best Supporting Actress.
After a long absence from the spotlight, Pfeiffer
returned to acting in 2006. Her first round of projects
teamed her with director Amy Heckerling in the romantic
comedy I Could Never Be Your Woman (opposite Paul Rudd,
scheduled for release Summer 2007) as well as opposite
Robert De Niro, Claire Danes, and Sienna Miller in the
fantasy epic Stardust, due for a 2007 release. Pfeiffer
will co-star in the film adaptation of the hit Broadway
musical Hairspray as Velma Von Tussle. She will make a
cameo appearance in The Prince and the Pauper, a film in
which her sister Dedee stars. She is slated to receive
her star on the "Hollywood Walk of Fame" in
2007.
In an August 2006 In Style interview (her first in many
years), Pfeiffer discussed her return to making movies.
With her children a little older, Michelle contends,
"I'm a better mother if I also work. Leaving home
for little spurts is actually a good thing. Things don't
fall apart. It empowers them without me hovering, making
everyone feel inadequate." Pfeiffer also discussed
plastic surgery, Hollywood's obsession with it, and now
in her 40s, her own thoughts on going under the knife.
"You see some freakish things. .. I'm hoping I'm
courageous enough to age gracefully." Michelle has
worked hard at been recognised as a serious actress and
has referred to her beauty as a 'curse' as it has often
stunted her ability to get serious roles and it has
eclipsed her acting ability.
Upon her return to acting, Michelle was quoted saying,
"I moved and sort of was really just liking being
with the kids and the family for awhile," she said
of her absence. "Now that I'm working again, I
realize I really like this stuff."
Personal life: In 1981 Pfeiffer married
Thirtysomething actor Peter Horton, but they divorced in
1988 at the height of her career. She has been
romantically linked with actors Val Kilmer, John
Malkovich, Michael Keaton and Fisher Stevens. In 1993
Pfeiffer married writer-producer David E. Kelley (The
Practice, L.A. Law, Ally McBeal and Boston Legal).
Earlier that year, before meeting Kelley, Pfeiffer
adopted a daughter, Claudia Rose, who was then adopted
by Kelley following their marriage. The adopted baby was
the daughter of a black nurse living in New York, who
already had four children. At the time of the adoption,
there were rumours that money was exchanged for the
baby, but Michelle has vigorously denied these claims
stating that the adoption was private.
In 1994 Pfeiffer gave birth to a son, John Henry.
Michelle has also been criticized for using the phrase
'ugly people' in an interview when talking about how
good looking people can be messed up just the same as
'ugly people'. In this interview, she was referring to
her role as the lonely waitress in Frankie and Johnny.
Currently, Pfeiffer and Kelley divide their time between
homes in Los Angeles and Northern California. |
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